UO fundraising effort reaches $1 billion halfway mark

The University of Oregon announced on Tuesday that its latest fundraising campaign, which has the ambitious goal of raising $2 billion dollars – the largest effort in the history of the UO or of any public university in Oregon – has surpassed the $1 billion mark.

The goal of this fundraising campaign is to increase the size of the UO’s endowment, which is managed by the UO Foundation, “to a size that can sustain student access, nurture faculty excellence, and build state-of-the-art facilities,” according to a release sent out Tuesday.

Almost $250 million of this will go toward programs that support students’ access and resources, including $27 million for the Pathway Oregon program. This is 69 percent more funding than this scholarship program started with back in 2008.

Almost $514 million will go to faculty and academic programs. A portion of that money is responsible for the renovation and upgrades of the Allan Price Science Commons and Research Library, which will open in fall term this year.

Thirty-eight percent of the $1 billion – about $380 million – is allocated to funding UO athletics. Money from this campaign is responsible for the new Jane O. Sanders women’s softball complex and the new Hatfield-Dowlin football complex. Some of this money will also go toward funding athletic scholarships, though the actual dollar amount is unclear at this time.

The UO went public with this campaign in the fall of 2014, and has since raised $532.4 million, with almost $202 million of that coming in just this last fiscal year, which ended on June 30. To date, the UO has received 312,698 pledges and donations – 210 of which were over $1 million.

“This is a day to celebrate Ducks everywhere,” UO President Michael Schill said in the release. “Campaigns are about the future, and we are profoundly grateful for every gift, whether it is $5 or $50 million, to support our priorities to increase access for students, excellence in teaching and research, and enrich the UO campus experience.”

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